The New Hampshire Gazette

FRENCH ORATION
ON
WASHINGTON.

We have before mentioned, that the French Government had directed a Funeral Oration to be pronounced on the death of Gen. Washington.--The following is a translation of it, from a Paris paper.]

FUNERAL ORATION.
Delivered in the Temple of Mars, Feb. 8, 1800,
By LOUIS FONTANES.

FRANCE, unbiased by those narrow prejudices which exist between nations, and admiring virtue wherever it be found, decrees this tribute of respect to the manes of WASHINGTON. At this moment She contributes to the discharge of a debt due by two nations. No government, whatever form it bears, or whatever opinion it holds, can refuse its respect to this great father of liberty. The people who so lately stigmatized Washington as a rebel, regard even the enfranchisement of America, as one of those events consecrated by history and by past ages. Such is the veneration excited by great characters. The American revolution, the cotemporary of our own, is fixed forever.--Washington began it with energy, and finished it with moderation. He knew how to maintain it, pursuing always the prosperity of his country; and this aim alone can justify at the tribunal of the Most High, enterprises so extraordinary.

To speak the eulogy of the hero of America, requires the sublimest eloquence of the first of orators.--I reflect, with sentiments of admiration, that this temple, ornamented with the trophies of valour, was raised up in an age of genius, an age which produced as many great writers as illustrious commanders. Then, the memory of heroes was entrusted to orators whose genius gave immortality. Now, military glory shines with lustre (eclat;) and in every country the glory of the fine arts is shrouded in darkness. My voice is too feeble to be heard on an occasion so solemn and momentous, and so new to me. But as that voice is pure; as it has never flattered any species of tyranny; it has never been rendered unworthy of celebrating heroism and virtue. Nevertheless, these funeral and military honors will speak to all hearts; it needs not the aid of speech, to raise strong and undecribable emotions.

The mourning which the first consul orders for Washington, declares to France that Washington's example is not lost. It is less for the illustrious general, than for the benefactor and the friend of a great people, that the crape of mourning now covers our banners and the uniform of our warriors. Neither do we prepare that unmeaning pomp, so contrary to policy and humanity, in which insult is offered to humanity, contempt to venerable ruins, and calumny to the tomb. Every exalted idea, every useful truth, is seen in this assembly. I speak before warriors, the honorable praises of a warrior firm in adversity, modest in victory, and humane in every stage of fortune. Before the ministers of the French Republic, I speak the praises of a man whom ambition never swayed, and whose every care tended to the welfare of his country; a man, who unlike others have changed empires, lived in peace in his native land; that land which he had freed, and in which he had held the highest rank: and died as a simple individual.

An affecting piece associates the shade of Franklin with the eulogy of Washington, and recalls to mind the amiable virtues of that age, so celebrated in France, whom posterity will regard as the brother of the hero of America.

In that piece, the orator finds tints of a finer hue, to paint the virtues of the hero.

"Washington, says he, offers examples not less worthy of imitation. Amidst all the disorder of camps, amidst all the excesses inseparable from a civil war, humanity took refuge in his tent, and was never repulsed. In triumph and in defeat, he was always as tranquil as wisdom, as simple as virtue. The finer feelings of the heart never abandoned him, even in those moments when his own interest would seem to justify a recurrence to the laws of vengeance. This I call thee to attest, O youthful ASGILU! thou whose misfortunes have interested